noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   A leaf, sometimes abortive, sometimes persistent, that does not develop into a photosynthetic structure, but instead fulfills protective or storage functions. Examples include cotyledons, bud-scales, glochids, rhizome-scales, and bulb-scales.
2. 2
   a reduced or scarcely developed leaf at the start of a plant's life (i.e., cotyledons) or in the early stages of leaf development wordnet

Etymology

From cata- + -phyll; intended as translation of German Niederblatt, literally, “lower leaf”.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.